COTBC Newsletter Archives - College of Occupational Therapists of British Columbia

Progress on Our Indigenous Cultural Safety Commitment

May 9, 2022

We continue to prioritize activities to embed the principles of cultural safety and humility into the College’s culture, governance, and operations.

Examples of current initiatives include:

Developing a learning session for registrants in the Fall
Collaborating with BC Health regulators to explore the development of Practice Standards for Indigenous Cultural Safety and Humility
Planning a gathering for OTs that self-identified as Indigenous and showed interest in providing insights and perspectives on regulatory issues

It is critical that we undertake these important activities in a way that is both culturally safe and meaningful, and as such, we continue to make connections with Indigenous Elders and consultants for advice and guidance.

The College recently worked with Sage Paul, an Indigenous artist from W̱JOȽEȽP (Tsartlip) First Nation, to create five custom pieces of digital art titled Respect, Knowledge Keeper, Land Acknowledgement, Ambassador, and Current.

Drawing upon Recommendation #10 of the In Plain Sight report, the College commits to visibly include Indigenous artwork and territorial acknowledgements in both our physical and online spaces to help foster culturally safer environments for Indigenous peoples.

Given the College’s office is privileged to be located on the traditional territory of the W̱SÁNEĆ (Saanich) peoples, including the BOḰEĆEN (Pauquachin), SȾÁ,UTW̱ (Tsawout), W̱JOȽEȽP (Tsartlip), and W̱SÍḴEM (Tseycum) First Nations, it was important that COTBC supported the W̱SÁNEĆ Leadership Council’s ask that “all government institutions, private companies, and individuals operating within W̱SÁNEĆ territory … help the W̱SÁNEĆ Nation in their efforts to revitalize W̱SÁNEĆ culture and re-establish a W̱SÁNEĆ presence on W̱SÁNEĆ lands.”

While we finalize the new cultural safety and humility section of our website where this artwork will be posted, we are excited to share this piece with you. Titled, Land Acknowledgement, Sage Paul states that she designed this image “to be a collection of elements representing the movement and growth of our land.”

Read a full description of this digital art, as well as to learn more about the Artist. Watch for website updates where we will share four additional captivating, inspiring, and thought-provoking pieces created by Sage Paul.

2022 Renewal is Approaching – Time for a Currency Check

May 9, 2022

We anticipate registration renewal to begin in mid-May. Over the past several years, many people have faced interruptions to employment and may have experienced a decrease in hours worked. To renew, College Bylaws require registrants to meet one the following currency hour requirements:

Successful completion of at least 600 hours within the scope of the profession in the preceding three years,
Successful completion of a re-entry program within the preceding 18 months,
Graduation from a recognized Canadian occupational therapy program or being deemed substantially equivalent, having obtained an academic qualification from a program or institution outside Canada, within the past 18 months.

Given registration renewal will be for the 2022/2023 period, the hours completed during the following years will be eligible towards meeting the 600 hours in the preceding three years currency hour requirement: 2019-2020, 2020-2021 and 2021-2022. Please review your currency to ensure you will be eligible for renewal in June.

The College website offers a currency calculator to help you tally your hours.

If you are short on currency, the Registration Committee will consider hours you spent in other activities that support your continuing competence and the delivery of safe, ethical, and effective care. These activities may include participation in volunteer work and continuing professional development (both formal and informal study) from July 1, 2019, to June 30, 2022.

Note these hours cannot exceed 25% of the 600 required hours (i.e., 150 hours), and cannot have been accumulated while your registration status was non-practising or cancelled, or while you were participating in a re-entry program.

To apply for consideration fill out the online form by June 7, 2022 and/or contact the College for next steps at registration@cotbc.org.

One-Year Anniversary of In Plain Sight Report

December 20, 2021

November 30 marked the first anniversary of the report on Indigenous-specific racism in BC’s health-care system In Plain Sight, an independent review led by Dr. Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond.

On that day, Turpel-Lafond released a statement highlighting some areas of progress made to date. She urged that these developments be used as motivation to address recommendations that have seen little to no movement. Occupational therapists are encouraged to read the original In Plain Sight report as well as her recent statement.

COTBC remains committed to taking action to address the what the report describes as widespread systemic racism against Indigenous people, including stereotyping, discrimination and prejudice. For example, following the ceremony and signing of the Joint Statement of Apology and Commitments to Action, College staff and/or Board members have:

Both hosted and/or participated in multiple learning sessions and workshops to build knowledge and competencies to best undertake this work.
Liaised with an Indigenous consultant for feedback on draft content for a Cultural Safety and Humility section on our website. Revisions are currently underway.
Continued to collaborate with other BC Health Regulators to identify opportunities to share, partner, or build off each other’s work, in an effort to support timely and consistent action.
Commissioned a local Indigenous artist who has started the design of a series of custom digital artwork pieces for the College.
Initiated planning for an event to meet with occupational therapists who self-identified as Indigenous at this year’s registration renewal and provided their consent to be contacted by the College.

The College will continue to keep you informed of progress on our commitment in upcoming newsletters and other communications. Contact us at info@cotbc.org if you have any questions or comments.

Public Input on Informed Consent

December 15, 2021

At a recent BC Public Advisory Network meeting, staff from nine different Colleges met with members of the public to discuss the topic of informed consent. While registrants must meet their College’s Practice Standards that set out the requirements for obtaining informed consent, it was helpful to hear the client’s unique perspective. Public advisors were asked what they expect from health care professionals when it comes to informed consent. Following are highlights from the discussion on public expectations:

Explicitly express that treatment requires their consent. Not everyone is aware that consent is needed.
Be cautious about using family members to translate when obtaining consent for higher risk interventions, sometimes the translation isn’t accurate.
Watch out for literacy issues if written text is being used. Consider adding diagrams. Offer pre-reading material if available.
There are opportunities for discrimination when obtaining consent. If practitioners assume that the client cannot understand the description of the treatment, language used may not be clear, truthful, or complete.
Do not make assumptions about the choices or preferences of the client.
Invite the opportunity to ask questions and engage with the client.
Be empathetic and considerate of the client’s lived experience.
Have evidence to back up treatment suggestions. Some clients will have done online research and will expect a conversation about pros and cons of treatment options.
Ask the client to repeat back their understanding of the treatment to ensure that the information has been understood. Reaffirm consent.

When asked why consent is important to the public, the responses were powerful:

“It’s important to take the time to get consent properly, if you have a good process, it builds trust.”

When providing consent, “… we are putting our health and wellness in the hands of a practitioner. It is our right to do so with the best possible information.”

Interested in learning more about the public advisors’ perspectives? Read the full BC-PAN meeting summary.